This is the story of Ryujin & Yeji from childhood, through Itzy, and into retirement. During that time, an intense and sometimes painful love blossoms, made difficult by the demands of fame and the search for meaning and purpose during Itzy and afte...
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These are fragments of material that I ended up not using. Just sharing for fun. I've added intros as needed. Hope you enjoy!
Caution: spoilers.
PS If you're a (G)I-DLE hater, skip this chapter. I am a Neverland too!
. . . . .
[Background: the girls have discovered that a certain woman in a certain group may be taking advantage of Yuna's big heart.]
"Wait Yuna, how many times have you helped Jennie move?" Ryujin asked skeptically.
"Not many, only 4 or 5."
It took several seconds for this to sink in. Chae sighed, opened her mouth, and closed it again. At least another full minute passed in silence.
Ryujin held up a finger. "Hold on everyone, I think I've got this: Yuna, what does Jennie look like?"
Yuna smiled. "Just like she looks in the 'Money' video."
"Wait, are you talking about Jennie, or about Lisa?"
"Who's Lisa?"
"I think the real question is: why is Lisa moving so much?" Lia asked rhetorically. "And doesn't YG already provide housing? Do we need to alert the authorities?"
Ryujin giggled. "She probably needs more storage for all those thigh-high boots!"
"To be fair," Yuna chimed in, "One of the times it wasn't Jennie, it was her parents in Thailand. And for the record, I love her boots. She gave me a pair."
"You went to Thailand to help her parents move!?!"
"Blackpink," Chae sighed. "Ugh."
Yeji squinted hard, looked at the ceiling, and sighed. The Gangster Unnie was going to have to stop by YG and and pay Ms Manoban a visit.
. . . . .
[Chae is thinking about starting a new label when she's forced to confront the reality of the Lion Queen, a certain tiny woman from another group.]
Just a few months after Itzy retired, Chaeryeong was already feeling restless and bored, and had started wondering whether or not she had anything else to contribute to the world of music.
One thing she was sure about was that she was still interested in music, but she was not interested in the crazy, stressful lifestyle of constantly traveling and filming commercials and doing photo shoots to endorse products she knew nothing about. So she wouldn't be an idol again.
In fact, none of the members of Itzy wanted to be idols again. It had been a miraculous experience, but they felt that they had said everything they needed to say, and if they continued, they'd just be repeating themselves.
An idea had started forming in her mind back when Itzy was together. They often griped about JYP, and how they had been treated as trainees.
Now, she asked herself: Why not start our own company? One that treated artists better? Chaeryeong was convinced that both the artists and the company would be even more financially successful and that the fans would get better music. Perhaps there could be a label that was nonprofit...? It was an insane idea.
She'd need help. Of course, she'd have Yuna, Yeji, Ryujin, and Lia. But she thought she might benefit from idols outside of Itzy. But who?
Chae walked around her home watering her plants. She started running through the names of a "dream team" that she could approach. There were so, so many talented people in kpop, and she had trouble picking, so she just started reciting the names of all the great groups she could think of: 2NE1, Mamamoo, BTS, Crayon Pop, f(x), SNSD, BigBang, Twice, Wonder Girls, Red Velvet, Blackpink, Aespa...
Then she started thinking about people and groups she didn't want. Throughout their career, Itzy had managed to steer clear of drama and conflict. They got along with everyone. But as far as Chae was concerned, there was only one group she didn't want to have any part of her new dream: (G)I-DLE. It wasn't Yuqi, Minnie, Shuhua, Miyeon, or Soojin.*
It was that short annoying one, the one at MAMA 2022 that had been scribbling lyrics with lipstick on a paper towel in the women's bathroom. She had grabbed Chae's shoulders and turned her around so she could use her back like a desk. She got close enough to Chae that Chae could smell the wine on her breath. Showing up drunk: that was (G)I-DLE. During the show, they dropped two f-bombs during "Tomboy." Minnie had probably been bullied into it, but Yuqi probably loved it.
Chae wasn't a prude, but she thought it was tacky and disrespectful. There were young people in the audience.
The woman barked "Hey Yeji, thanks", and left.
Yeji!?! Really? If she did that on purpose...
Chae was mystified as to how some groups like (G)I-DLE could somehow get away with anything. Itzy couldn't be like that. In any event, they didn't want to be like that. It had nothing to do with their image or concept. They just didn't carry themselves that way, though sometimes they wished they could.
But then Chae and the rest of the girls saw GI's performance. Chae realized that the woman had been writing the lyrics to her rap in the bathroom - on Chae's back. But as she watched, she realized that she wasn't using a teleprompter. She had memorized them already, or was freestyling, or both. She had never seen anything that was such a tour de force.
Chae felt that kpop groups didn't get the credit as innovators that she thought they should. Why not?
After all, Chae had just met an artist like that.
A genius.
Soyeon.
[* Soojin is not in (G)I-DLE anymore, but all of us Neverlands still love her and are still broken-hearted, and it didn't feel right to leave her out!]
